Palemouth
The palemouth is a small dragonfly. The male is bright powder blue all over its body, and it has a pale cream upper lip. That pale mouth is how it got its name.
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Fun facts
Its wings measure 40 to 60 millimetres from tip to tip.
Even though the male is bright blue, people often stop seeing it once it lands on a lily pad.
Its scientific name denticauda means toothed tail, because the male has tiny teeth on the tip of its tail.
In northern Australia it lives along the coast in a long curve from Queensland to Broome.
Most asked questions about Palemouth
?Why is it called the palemouth?
Because its upper lip is a pale cream colour.
?How big is the palemouth?
It is a small dragonfly. Its wingspan is about 4 to 6 centimetres.
?Is the palemouth dangerous?
No. Dragonflies have no sting and it is harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Brachydiplax denticauda
- Group
- Dragonflies and damselflies
- Family
- Libellulidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Odonata > Libellulidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Brachydiplax denticauda (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by G. Winterflood. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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